Well it's Sunday and I am rushing around like a crazy man trying to get everything ready for my camping trip to the Pinery. L is heading to a church camp and I am going to meet my sister at the Pinery I made 2 batches of bread a batch of yogurt and some BBQ sauce.
This was my first try at the BBQ sauce and I made a few mistakes. It tasted good but was not quite what I was looking for. The base was my homemade ketchup and cider vinegar. I had used honey when I actually meant to put in maple syrup. I also made some crackers which were not quite as thin as they should have been, or they needed to be cooked a little longer, they just weren't as crunchy as I would have liked. Live and learn next time all these things will improve.
I drove toward Exeter my first stop for this camping trip. This time I did stop at Hayters Turkeys, LCBO and beer store, quite the combination. I looked around and after discovering that they are now open 7 days a week I decided to stop here on the way home. I left Hayter's and arrived at Exeter, there is a great little park right on Highway 4 that I have wanted to stay at for some time.
That night I had a steak with some new potatoes and a salad with collard greens, kohlrabi, snow pea, pea shoots and mung bean sprouts. I topped that with sunflower oil, cider vinegar and a pinch of salt. I put some of the BBQ sauce on the meat. What an excellent meal. I left the trailer connected to the car as I was not staying for any length of time. I took a walk that evening; this is truly a lovely little park. There are numerous trails and a river running through it. There was a flower garden with memorial stones place throughout. There was also a pavilion and many BBQ stands.
I got up the next morning and had a meal of pancakes with honey (as the maple syrup was left at home) and apple cider. On my way again with a very short drive to the Pinery. I arrived in time for lunch, crackers, cheese and homemade salsa. The salsa was excellent but a little bit runny. Another thing to improve the next time I make it. I have a good idea how I will manage that without cooking the salsa any longer, deseed the tomatoes and drain the juice before I start. I will keep the reserve liquid as I have something else I want to try with it. While I was eating my sister and brother-in-law drove by with their trailer yelling that they were not going to be at the site they told me but were moving to another site. I popped over and for a quick visit but then had to head into Grand Bend to look for a trailer part that broke. I only arrived back home in time to make supper. Supper was 2 BBQed Bison burgers with homemade buns. The buns were a bit soft and rather filling, I think I will try a different recipe next time. I made sliced potatoes, Mushrooms, Garlic Scapes and onions in foil pouches all on the BBQ. For desert I had some of my homemade yogurt for desert. I spent the evening over at my sisters where we had a lovely campfire.
The next morning I had a bacon and tomato sandwich. Same bread dough as the buns, same complaint. I had another glass of cider and 2 glasses of water. It appears like it could rain any minute now. I headed over to see what my sister is doing before the rain hits. I got over there and they were having breakfast still. While I waited for them to finish eating the clouds dissipated and we never did get any rain. I never did get lunch but we had a great swim at the beach. We headed out that evening for supper. I picked the most local thing I could find, fish and chips. The fish was local and the potatoes were fresh cut I was hoping that they were local. We had a campfire that night and I had a few peanuts in the shell from Picard's nuts.
The next morning I woke and made the rest of the pancake mix. After breakfast we headed into Grand Bend as there is a farmers market there every Wednesday morning. I looked over the whole place and was impressed that it was truly local. No one was there selling food terminal produce or lemons… I bought a few cherries and some honey. I was hoping that there would have been some produce from Leamington, in particular some hot peppers, no such luck however. I knew that there would be some at the antique market but unfortunately I would not be here on Sunday when it was open. We headed back and I prepared a bowl of soup for lunch. The base for it was some beef broth I had previously made. To this I added a garlic scape, some onion, kohlrabi, and some sprouts. I rounded the meal out with a couple of pepperettes and a bowl of yogurt. After spending the afternoon at the beach I we headed back to my sister's site for supper. They were having sausage and I was too. Different sausages though as hers were for Zehrs and mine from a local butcher, I thought mine looked and likely tasted better. I served the sausages on a couple more buns and had a rather large salad with a sunflower and cider vinegar dressing. That evening we again had a campfire and more peanuts.
Thursday, my last full day here. I had a breakfast of bacon and tomatoes sandwiches. I spent the morning over at my sister's site and came back to mine for lunch. This was a quick meal of crackers, cheese and pepperettes. We headed into Grand Bend for a bit, I check my emails at the local Library and my sister picked up some supplies. We came back and enjoyed the beach again. It seems like that is all we are doing but… I just am not mentioning the walks we are doing or any of the other things. The beach is fun and the dogs enjoy it too. I headed back to my place to make supper. I decided to go to my sister's as the meal was somewhat complicated. I BBQed some chicken and another foil of potatoes. For a vegetable I boiled some collard green and then fried them in a little butter with garlic scapes and a splash of cider vinegar just at the end. I headed over to my sister's site for the evening campfire.
I awoke Friday and had a bowl of yogurt and an apple for breakfast. I finished packing up the site hooked up the trailer and went over to say goodbye to my sister. They were in the process of getting ready to leave but as she has a tent trailer and I have a hard top my packing was quicker and easier. I knew they were going to head to the beach for one last hurray but I had a few places I wanted to stop at on the way home.
My first stop was back to Hayter's turkeys. I picked up a netted turkey roast, some turkey burgers and some ground turkey. This was a great place for me. My kids think I am turkey crazy, I admit I like it better than chicken so I use it a lot. I find chicken tends to get rubbery (if over cooked or cooked wrong}. Turkey get a bit too dry but never rubbery. At one time it seemed that you could only get whole turkeys, now you can get any parts you want. They had some beans there and I inquired about them but all they could tell me was that they were from London but did not know which they grew and which they imported. Oh well, I will keep looking. I drove to Wellesley next. I picked up 2 litres of cider vinegar, 4 litres of apple cider and some grape juice. Then on to home.
I just barely had time to do some washing, get the car cleaned and it was time for supper. I had a couple of the turkey burgers, a sweet potato and a salad. I then headed over to Chapter's. I met both of my sisters and L there. L was just finished her camp and headed directly there. It was sort of weird and we sat and talked for some time, but I couldn't have anything.
I should make a comment here, the Chapters thing started a few years ago. L and I would come go to Chapters on Friday; we would read a few magazines and maybe peruse a book and then have a coffee or in L's case a hot chocolate. There were live bands every Friday n those days and upon occasion there still is. It was a great and cheap way to spend an evening. Then my family started showing up and doing the same thing. It has now become a family tradition.
Wow I can't believe that I got through all of this. It has taken me some time and I am really still way behind but I think I will be able to catch up quickly.
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